Sony says 2K screens are a waste for smartphones, especially if they kill battery life

When you’re using a display that’s only around 5 inches, do you really need it to have a 2K resolution when a 1080p resolution will do just fine? Sony certainly doesn’t think so and in an interview with TrustedReviews, Sony director of Xperia marketing Calum MacDougall gives a very smart explanation for why it’s not chasing other smartphones when it comes to bumping up display resolutions: It’s just not worth it if it means sacrificing battery life.

“If we believe that a key part of the user experience for consumers is to have a longer term battery, and if we believe we can deliver a great screen with Full HD and our Sony technologies, we don’t believe the trade-off between having a 2K screen and battery consumption is the right trade-off for a consumer,” MacDougall explains to TrustedReviews.

MacDougall is making a lot of sense here: While having a 2K display on your phone is a nice luxury, it really won’t make that much of a difference since you probably aren’t watching entire movies on a 5-inch display anyway. Plus, we know that there’s more to a great display than just pixel density, as things such as color accuracy are also hugely important.

And we also know that people absolutely love having phones with longer battery life, as several recent surveys have shown us it’s top priority for prospective smartphone buyers. So while some smartphone fans might be disappointed that Sony’s new Xperia Z3 “only” has a 1080p display, they should realize the company had very good reasons for making the design choices it did.